Breast imaging-reporting and data system (BI-RADS)

Changed by Henry Knipe, 6 Jan 2015

Updates to Article Attributes

Body was changed:

The BIRADS acronym stands for Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System which is a widely accepted risk assessment and quality assurance tool in mammography, ultrasound or MRI. Part of the initial implementation was to make the reporting of mammograms more standardised and comprehensible to the non-radiologist reading the report.

This is not a unique system. There are other systems in use all over the world.

The latest version classifies lesions into 6six categories and are

  • BIRADS 0: incomplete, further imaging or information is required, e.g. compression, magnification, special mammographic views, ultrasound. This is also used when requesting previous images not available at the time of reading.
  • BIRADS I: negative, symmetrical and no masses, architectural disturbances or suspicious calcifications present.
  • BIRADS II: benign findings, interpreter may wish to describe a benign-appearing finding, e.g.
  • BIRADS III: probably benign, short interval follow-up suggested. The accent is on the word benign. 
  • BIRADS IV: suspicious abnormality
    • there is a mammographic appearance which is suspicious for malignancy
    • biopsy should be considered for such a lesion
    • these can be further divided as
      • BIRADS IVa: low level of suspicion for malignancy
      • BIRADS IVb: intermediate suspicion for malignancy
      • BIRADS IVc: moderate suspicion for malignancy
  • BIRADS V: there is a mammographic appearance which is highly suggestive of malignancy, action should be taken.
  • BIRADS VI: known biopsy proven malignancy 

The vast majority of screening mammograms fall into BIRADS I or II 4.

Risk of cancer
  • BIRADS III: ~2%
  • BIRADS IV: ~30% 3
  • BIRADS V: 95%

See also

  • -<p>The <strong>BIRADS </strong>acronym stands for <strong>Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System</strong> which is a widely accepted risk assessment and quality assurance tool in mammography, ultrasound or MRI. Part of the initial implementation was to make the reporting of mammograms more standardised and comprehensible to the non-radiologist reading the report.</p><p>This is not a unique system. There are other systems in use all over the world.</p><p>The latest version classifies lesions into 6 categories and are: </p><ul>
  • +<p>The <strong>BIRADS </strong>acronym stands for <strong>Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System</strong> which is a widely accepted risk assessment and quality assurance tool in mammography, ultrasound or MRI. Part of the initial implementation was to make the reporting of mammograms more standardised and comprehensible to the non-radiologist reading the report.</p><p>This is not a unique system. There are other systems in use all over the world.</p><p>The latest version classifies lesions into six categories: </p><ul>

Sections changed:

  • Classifications
Images Changes:

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